AP police book PC, Shinde for 'cheating'

Even as the Congress high command is mulling over an amicable solution to the Telangana issue, police here booked Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Finance Minister P Chidambaram for allegedly “cheating the people of Telangana” by going back on their words over the formation of a separate state.

A case under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered on Monday at the L B Nagar police station on the outskirts of Hyderabad against the two Central ministers, according to direction of a district court.

The police initiated action after the second metropolitan magistrate court pulled up the station house officer of the police station for not following the orders passed by it on January 28. The court took cognisance against him under Section 166 (a) (public servant disobeying the law) of the IPC on a complaint filed by Telangana Junior Advocates’ Association member Naresh Kumar.

The court earlier directed the police to file an FIR, probe into the allegations and file a status report within a month. The petitioner alleged that both Shinde and Chidambaram made misleading statements on the Telangana issue, thereby cheating the people.

He sought the court’s direction to refer the matter to the police for investigation and registration of a case. Naresh Kumar mentioned in his petition the statements made by the two Cabinet ministers. Meanwhile, the L.B. Nagar police that issued the FIR in compliance with the court direction.